Old Familiar Things
by kiki399
Summary: Halloween preparation at the Kent farm.


**Title:** Old Familiar Things  
**Author:** kiki39  
**Rating:** K  
**Disclaimer:** DC owns these characters. I'm just borrowing them.  
**Summary:** Halloween preparation at the Kent farm.  
**A/N:** Big thanks to Cloaker for the help!

_"I get by leaning on the old familiar things." – Nathan Wiley_

Clark Kent stood staring out into the familiar fields as the sun began its decent to meet the earth; suffusing his world in shades of pinkish-gold and the illusion of tranquility.

He took one more deep breath of the crisp fall air before turning back towards the house, his arms loaded with his mother's Halloween decorations.

Lana stood watching him from the porch. "Clark, you found them."

He squashed the flash of irritation at her words and smiled. "Yah, lot's of stuff to choose from."

Her smile grew wider. "Great, I'll go through this and whatever is too old or missing, I'll just go pick up after dinner." She kissed him lightly on the cheek. "What would you like for dinner, Clark?"

"You're cooking again? I thought we were going to order in something."

"Well of course. Your mom isn't here anymore and you can't just eat fast food all the time. Why don't you ever want to cook anymore? Chloe said you were always making dinners..."

He shrugged. "It was that or let Lois poison us. I chose the safer option."

Clark followed her to the kitchen, dropping the box of Halloween decorations on the table as Lana removed potatoes from the fridge. He pulled out a string of fake spider webs and began rummaging around for the box of spiders. He smiled, remembering Lois' reaction to finding a few spiders in her -_his_ bed.

"What's so funny?"

He looked up to find Lana watching him curiously.

"Nothing."

Lana was still a little sensitive around the topic of Lois. He briefly considered playing the spider trick on Lana, but the thought was fleeting. He knew she'd never appreciate it. Lana wasn't one for pranks and jokes, much less bugs. He quickly changed the subject before she could question him further. "Uh, how about I make a salad?"

Lana watched him a moment longer, then blinked slowly. "Okay, sure...thanks."

He turned back to the box, seeing what else he could find. He brightened at the sight of a giant witch. His dad had bought it as a surprise for his mom on their last Halloween together. He remembered his dad and Lois returning from some campaign stop and setting up the witch on the front lawn. He had returned from the store with his mother to find them staring at something on the ground, arguing position and layout. Lois returning from the house, placing a small object on the ground, then stepped back to admire their handy work.

What he remembered vividly was the laughter. His mother had turned to him, her face so happy, asking him what sort of mischief he thought Jonathan and Lois were involved in. They had got out of the truck in time to hear his dad say, "It's perfect!". Then Lois had said something and they both began to laugh. So had his mother, and he, when they joined them, seeing a large, cartoonish witch splattered, as if she'd crashed into the ground, and beside it lay his grandfather's old hunting flask. "The drunken witch."

Lana came to join him, peering over his arm. "What is that?"

He turned to her smiling, the memory warming his heart as it competed against the sharp, empty stab of pain he felt deep in his gut. He was still surprised at the ache. Lois was right. The pain didn't lessen over time, you just got used to it. "It's a drunken witch."

She looked confused so he bent down, setting it up across the floor. "See, it looks like she crashed."

"That thing is huge, and kind of tacky, don't you think? You don't want to put that out front, do you?"

He glanced up at her. "You don't like it? I think it's kind of funny."

"Well, sure, if you're a child, but I was going for a Haunted Farm kind of feel."

Clark stood up abruptly. "I like it; my dad bought it for my mom."

He watched as Lana's face immediately softened. "Oh. I didn't know, why didn't you say so? I'm sorry, Clark, we can put that up if you want. I can help you after I get the potatoes in the oven."

He backed away from her hand on his arm. "No, it's fine. I'll go do it now. I'll help with the salad when I get back."

"Sure" she said softly as he turned his back and left.

Clark knew he was being unfair, but he couldn't help it. Lana was trying so hard to be the perfect girlfriend. They were both trying so hard. Yet, everything was so formal, like they were acting out a script they were expected to know and... And the truth was he unhappy.

He knelt down in the cool grass and got to work, trying to ignore the feeling of emptiness that continued to plague him. He'd foolishly believed that being with Lana would cure him. She'd been all he wanted for so long. Now that they were together, he didn't know what to do… or how to feel. She knew his secrets, he was accepted and loved -- so why wasn't that enough for him? What was the matter with him? He stretched out beside his drunken witch, the cool, damp grass refreshing on his back. He shut his eyes and replayed that last Halloween night.

He felt a foot kicks his boot, then nudge his leg. "Hey, Smallville, you dead?"

He opened his eyes to see Lois Lane standing over him. He laughed. "You wish."

She flopped down beside him, shutting her eyes and letting out a long breath. "I see you found Gertrude."

"Gertrude?"

"Yeah, don't you remember? We named her."

"I thought it was Helga."

Lois smiled. "Nope."

They laid in comfortable silence.

"It's the little things that throw you, isn't it." She said thoughtfully. "Things are going great, and then you see something and... That was a nice Halloween."

Clark nodded, grateful that she seemed to know exactly how he was feeling without him having to say a word. "Yah, it was," he said softly.

After a while he spoke again. "So, what are you doing here? You don't come around here much anymore. Shelby misses you."

Lois sat up and rolled to her feet, their peaceful interlude over. "I've been busy. Speaking of...where is my four-legged allergy?"

Clark joined her. "Sleeping. He had a strenuous game of fetch with Kara."

"Say no more. That girl has quite the arm. Poor Shelbs. Anyway, I just came to pick up Kara. I promised I'd show her a _real_ Halloween. And the first step is costume shopping."

He watched her suspiciously. "She'd mentioned that."

Lois' eyes narrowed defensively. "What's the problem?"

"What other sort of things are you planning to show her?"

She smacked his arm and walked past him towards the house. "Nothing too dangerous. Relax, Smallville. She may have led a very sheltered life before coming here, but she's not stupid - and neither am I. Everything will be fine. It's just shopping."

"Lois, you may not always plan these things, but face it; you always end up in some sort of trouble."

She rolled her eyes. "But I always get myself out of it."

At his skeptical look she added, "Mostly."

Then she winked and patted him on the shoulder. "Don't worry I'll have her home at a decent hour. Oooh something smells good. You cooking again, Smallville?"

They walked into the kitchen and he came face to face with an unimpressed Lana.

Oops. He'd forgotten about salad duty.

Lois came to a sudden halt, and he walked right into her. She turned and glared, before giving Lana a tight smile. "Hi, Lana."

"Hi, Lois." she replied. Her smile looked painful. Clark winced and hurried to the fridge. "Sorry, I forgot about the salad."

"It's fine. I was just looking for the small pot..."

"It's not on the middle shelf by the stove?"

Lana placed both hands on her hips and glared at him. "No, Clark, I've checked all the shelves."

Lois watched them curiously. "Is that the porridge pot?"

Clark grinned. "That's right!"

Lana looked from Lois to Clark in confusion.

"I made porridge one day," Lois explained.

Clark snorted. "That was not porridge."

"It was too...it was German porridge."

That made him laugh. "Right. Not even Shelby would touch that stuff."

Lana was still confused. "So, you destroyed the pot?"

Clark started laughing harder, while Lois continued to glare at him.

"No, I did not." Lois said at the same time Clark said, "My mom took one look at the pot and after she finally got it clean, she hid it up in the hall closet."

"But…why just one pot?"

"Because Lois hates to cook, so when she does, she uses the smallest one to make just enough food for her."

Lois sat looking indignant. "Just remember who's telling the story. The truth is being skewed. Martha did not hide it on me; she said she was using it to catch a mouse in the closet."

"There's a mouse in the closet?"

All eyes turned to Kara.

"Hi Lois! Sorry to keep you waiting; it's hard finding a proper Samhain shopping outfit. But I looked it up. Orange and black are the colors of Halloween because orange is associated with the fall harvest and black is the color of darkness."

"A festive color combination. Nice." She glanced at Clark. "Definitely beats the old blue and red combo. Maybe you should work on your cousin."

Kara looked to Clark excitedly. "Want me to pick you up some orange and black shirts?"

"No." Clark and Lana stated in unison.

"Clark looks best in blues and whites."

Lois smirked. "Well in that case, let's get out of here, Kara." She turned and waved good bye to Lana and Clark. "See ya guys. And Clark, don't wait up."

Clark watched them leave with a sense of dread. Lois and trouble were practically synonymous, and Kara wasn't much better -- Kryptonian powers or not.

He followed them to the front door, listening as Lois asked Kara if she knew the words to 'Ghostbusters."

The end.


End file.
